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Ottawa needs to review a policy that is contributing to the price gap between Canadian and U.S. books and has sent student textbook prices soaring, a senate committee says.

“We’re particularly concerned about students and student book prices,” Senator Joseph Day, who chaired the Senate committee, told a news conference Wednesday.

Consumers’ anger about the Canada-U.S. price gap has focused sharply on books, largely because most covers display the price sticker for both markets, a senate committee studying the Canada-U.S. price gap noted.

Canadian booksellers face many challenges, some shared by other countries, including increased competition from ebooks and a general decline in the amount of leisure time spent reading, the committee noted.

Intense competition, especially in the market for bestsellers, means many books sell at a steep discount to their list price, especially those sold through online retailers, like amazon.com, the committee noted.

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However, Canadian booksellers face an additional cost issue not borne by their U.S. counterparts, the committee said.

A provision that allows exclusive Canadian distributors of books imported from the U.S. to mark them up by 10 per cent should be reviewed by the federal government to see whether it’s still warranted, the committee said.

The provision has had a particularly adverse effect on student textbooks, the committee noted.

The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations told the committee student textbook prices had soared 280 per cent over the past 15 years, nearly 10 times the rate of inflation.

The committee, which was asked by federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to study the reasons Canadian prices for goods are often higher than in the U.S., recommended Ottawa review the cost and benefits of reducing the markup.

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